Compared to the manic and raw original from the Pixies, Beacon takes its time to build upon the lyrics on their rendition of “Wave of Mutilation.” It’s a stripped-back approach that focuses on soothing piano balladry, eliciting feelings of placidness and occasional dips into the eerie territory. The original increases pulses and provides a constant stream of aggression, so Beacon going in the complete opposite direction was an interesting take, but one that inexplicably works in their favour. The vocals are charged yet subdued, wrapping itself around listeners with a tight grip, but one would be hard-pressed to want it to release. Both provide emotive experiences that can satisfy varying moods, and it’s because of this that Beacon should be lauded, taking something old and turning it into a wholly new creation. A wholly new experience, one that will sure to leave listeners in awe.
Band Members:
Thomas Mullarney III, Jacob Gossett
Gravity Pairs out now on Ghostly International on November 2nd, 2018:
Next week Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith will return with her new album “The Mosaic of Transformation” via Ghostly International. West coast composer, artist, and producer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has chartered a pioneering career with multiple critically-acclaimed albums since 2015. Following the release of The Kid in 2017, Smith focused her energy in several directions. She founded Touchtheplants, a multidisciplinary creative environment for projects including the first volumes in her instrumental Electronic Series and pocket-sized poetry books on the practice of listening within. She’s continued to explore the endless possibilities of electronic instruments as well as the shapes, movements, and expressions found in the physical body’s relationship to sound and color. It is this life-guiding interest that forms the foundational frequencies of her latest full-length, The Mosaic of Transformation, a bright, sensorial glide through unbound wave phenomena and the radiant power discovered within oneself.
Smith describes her first encounters with this mosaic; “the inspiration came to me in a sudden bubble of joy. It was accompanied by a multitude of shapes that were moving seamlessly from one into the other…My movement practice has been a constant transformation piece by piece. I made this album in the same way. Every day I would transform what I did yesterday…into something else. This album has gone through about 12 different versions of itself.” As it has arrived, in a completed state, The Mosaic of Transformation is a holistic manifestation of embodied motions. Smith’s signature textural curiosity that fans have grown to adore pivots naturally into a proprioceptive study of melody and timbre. Airy organ and voice interweave with burbling Buchla-spawned harmonic bubbles.
“The Steady Heart” quivers to life, peppering blasts of wooden organ between winding vocal affirmations. As with a body, moving one portion requires a balance and counterbalance; here, subtle tonal twitchy signals fire in conjunction with coiling arias to create a mesmeric core. When the beat arrives at the midway mark, a swooping and jittery waltz, a sense of stasis in motion, a flow state, is sonically achieved. As soon as it syncs, it disappears back into the swirling ebbs of electric force.
Other tracks stray into more ruminative physical realms. “Carrying Gravity” is built around string-like pads that expand and contract like a solar plexus, becoming taught and then loose. As the breath interacts and is focused upon, suddenly, the nervous system engages, delicate arpeggios cascade, akin to becoming aware of the transmission of energy happening between muscles and the mind.
If the record could be summarized in a single movement, it is the 10-minute closing suite, a rapturous collage called “Expanding Electricity.” Symphonic phrases establish the piece before washes of glittering electric peals and synthesized vibraphone helix into focus. Soon, Smith’s voice grounds it all with an intuitive vocal hook, harmonized and augmented by concentric spirals of harp-and-horn-like sounds. Smith’s music doesn’t capture a specific emotion as much as it captures the joys of possessing a body, and the ability to, with devotion and a steady open heart, maneuver that vessel in space by way of electricity to euphoric degrees
We’ve previously shared the album’s first two singles “Expanding Electricity” and “The Steady Heart” and ahead of next’s weeks release she’s released the third single from the album, “Carrying Gravity.” It’s a thoughtful and contemplative instrumental that takes you on a cerebral but emotional journey that is constantly shifting throughout its loving seven-minute runtime.
Here’s a description of the track from Kaitlyn herself:
Carrying gravity, Love is never without a sound. Sound is never without a rhythm. Rhythm is never without a pulse. A pulse is never without 2 extremes oscillating. Gravity is a force that tries to pull two objects toward each other. Carrying both extremes towards center.
West coast composer, artist, and producer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith will release her new album “The Mosaic of Transformation” on May 15th via Ghostly International.
Smith has recently released her expansive 10-minute soaring track “Expanding Electricity” from the album. The track reveals itself to be many things during the course of it’s 10-minute runtime, exploring colorful soundscapes and worlds that continually shifts and evolves, with a lush cinematic quality to it that never stops transforming.It looks like we have an early contender for one of the best songs of the year.
Within each of their records, the Australian duo creates a universe of its own. It has always been hard to pinpoint a word that describes the sound of Jonnine Standish and Nigel Yang without losing their mysterious charm. Their fourth album “Venus in Leo” was inspired by the Melbourne indie scene and shows the duo in a better state of mind than 2014’s Psychic 9-5 Club, which was heavily marked by the suicide of original band member Sean Stewart. On Venus in Leo, HTRK approach the topics of our digitalized society. The lyrics focus on longing, intimacy and failed love within the age of social media. Similar to its predecessor, the interplay between Standish’s unique vocals and Yang’s guitar play is unlike any other electronic/ indie duo.
There’s a certain level of intimacy and warmth delivered in both lyrics and melody, that will draw the listener into the world of this album immediately. The duo discovers its underground rock past on the nine tracks of the album, delicately mixing electronic productions with post-punk references.
Even though you can sense a certain degree of romantic denial and shattered hopes, there’s a bit of hope peeping out of the overall melancholic atmosphere that lies within the tracks. In a wonderful and decelerated manner, Venus In Leo explores the abysses of desire, obsession and intimacy.
The Fat Angel Sings 